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00:30hello hello beautiful people out there welcome you guys to our first ever essence entrepreneur
00:48virtual summit and welcome back for those of you lovely people who have been joining us since this
00:53morning um we have another exciting segment coming to you today but before i get into that
00:59i do want to quickly remind you guys to stay stick around um we have our new voices and target
01:06accelerators pitch competition coming up later on today you'll get to see uh 10 black women
01:11entrepreneurs um pitch their business ideas to for their chance at 100 000 in prizes and so i'm
01:19sorry in funding for their business um and speaking of target you know i know for me every time i go
01:24in target i feel like i see a new black owned brand on the shelves or a different one that
01:29i hadn't seen before and so this next person um that i'm going to be chatting with today
01:34our next special guest has a lot to do with that um she is the chief diversity and inclusion
01:40officer and vice president of human resources at target corporation excuse me let me run that
01:46back so we get it right she is the chief diversity culture and inclusion officer and vice president
01:52of human resources at the target corporation um and she is also a top executive in corporate diversity
01:58um and she is also a member of the talladega college board of trustees the intersectionality
02:05culture and diversity advisory board for twitter and co-chair of the retail industry leaders association
02:11diversity and inclusion initiative everyone please give a warm welcome she's already here but
02:16miss caroline wenga hi caroline we love this hoodie right if you can hear them they will be yes we do
02:29humanizemyhoodie.com all right so today we're going to be talking all about the role that
02:35organizational culture plays in helping businesses to kind of get through some of the things that we're
02:40going through um with this crisis um and so when we think about organizational culture i know for me
02:46and for sure for a few um business owners whether small business or just um black owned businesses
02:52in general a few things come to mind so to start can you kind of speak to which elements of organizational
02:58culture you found it most important to focus on during this time yeah i mean um before i share that
03:05there's two things that i really need to do the first of all is thank essence for um the invitation and
03:11having the audacity to continue to equip black people to be superior second is i have the privilege
03:18today of coming to tell the story of a company of 350 000 people i am honored to be able to be the
03:24storyteller but i wouldn't i would not be doing it any justice if i wasn't honest about the fact that
03:28they're the story makers and so i am honored to be their storyteller and uh believe this team is
03:34phenomenal here's what i would tell you about culture that's really important to know and it's not lost
03:41on me that the scale and size of target as a eighth largest employer in the country billion billion
03:47dollar businesses tons of stores can create the image that they're what we talk about doing from
03:53a business perspective may not be applicable if you're a smaller business um and it's not lost on
03:59me that that could be there what i would offer to you is a way to listen to what i'm going to share
04:03today to find what within it can help you with your business and the way that i would frame that up for
04:08you big companies do big things yep smaller companies do their thing yep but what's common
04:14between the two of us is we make decisions and we serve people and so listen to it through the lens of
04:21that and then the second piece i'd ask you to listen through it from is culture the way that i'm going
04:26to explain it is an ongoing ever-changing support of your business strategy a strong consistent culture
04:33allows you to be able to survive the different changes in climate climate is what we're going
04:40through right now as we're going through covid so understand that i'm talking about cultures your
04:44survival to for for um climate so when i talk about culture for the sake of today i'm talking about what
04:50a purpose is of the organization what they value and how they behave because the culture is the collective
04:55behavior of the organization that brings an organization's purpose to life and is the filter for
05:00decisions it is what gives you confidence it's what anchors you and where you need to go and it's
05:05what helps you come in and out of moments like this stronger than you ever were before
05:12thank you for that definition i mean it really helps i think to center our conversation today and
05:16really just give the audience and specifically the business owners in our audience a really good idea of
05:22what it is the focus should be what that means and how to really delve into that in a way that can help
05:27them so you know in times like this you know i think that for business owners and otherwise it can
05:35unintentionally kind of show us spaces that we've become too comfortable in and we're so attached to
05:40our routines and the way that we do things and we you know from thinking that um we get to go to the
05:45grocery store whenever we want or go outside whenever we want you know things that we just now we have
05:50to kind of adapt and change so what are some of the ways that being so comfortable in an organ in a certain
05:56routine um when it comes to an organizational culture can kind of cripple a small business
06:00and then what tips can you give to business owners that they can take to better adapt to that to kind of
06:06get in front of that so it doesn't happen in the future yeah i would offer you just a couple of
06:13thoughts on that one the first one is as you heard me share you have a business strategy as a company
06:19and your business strategy should always be fueled by the culture that you set remember purpose
06:23values behaviors that you as an organization set when you come to be most of you guys as business
06:30owners are probably really familiar with continuing to refresh your strategy based on what's happening
06:34with the consumer you want to sell to where some organizations need to give equal energy is evolving
06:39your cultural expectations in alignment with your strategic platform if you continue to push your
06:45strategy forward and don't bring your culture up to date with it you will eventually find yourself where
06:51your profits aren't playing out the right way from purpose but we've got data out there that says 79
06:56of consumers so that they're more loyal to purpose focused brands 67 say they're more willing to
07:02forgive such a company if it gets into a blind place 84 of executives believe that organizations with
07:07a shared purpose are the ones that are going to be able to continue to make more money and so as you
07:12think about like just kind of being complacent your role is to make sure that when you opened your business
07:18whenever you opened it and you set forth what your purpose was and what you believed and how you want
07:22people to behave and you set what you want your business strategy to be are they still aligned
07:27today if they're not do that work because simply making money is not what's separating businesses
07:33these days it's how they make money who they make money with and how they're supporting more
07:38stakeholders than just their shareholders and so that is the advice that i would give culture fuel strategy
07:44it should be as up to date as your business strategy is and it should evolve in the same way if it
07:48doesn't the dissonance could render you irrelevant wow that that's so it's so such succinct advice that
07:55people can really take it and walk away with it but it's also super detailed so that you really you
08:00know understand what it is that's on the line here so i like how you did that appreciate that um and it
08:06it sounds like you were tapping a little bit into and please correct me if i'm wrong um you know not
08:13getting back to the reason that you started your business and remembering that remembering that
08:17purpose that foundation and carrying that through into how you set up or how you run even how you adapt
08:23your organizational culture because i think you know it can be simple to not forget but maybe lose sight
08:30of um for a little bit why you started what that purpose was what that mission was and what you set
08:37out to do in the beginning when you you know started your business
08:41yeah i mean i think it's there it's there and it's what helps you when you get into crisis when
08:47you're in crisis is not the time to define your purpose when you're in crisis is not the time to
08:51implement values when you're in crisis is not the time to try to manage behavior because those things
08:55should be embedded enough to where they automatically play out and that's what target experience
09:00right so as we're all living in this covet moment what we believe in all families discover the joy
09:06of everyday life we have values related to inspiration inclusivity drive optimism and connection
09:12and we've got behaviors that align to that that piece being there meant that when the crisis of covet
09:18hit we could make quick nimble decisions on what we needed to do in the current climate because our
09:25culture was solid so without that we can't make a decision to spend up to 300 million dollars
09:32investing in our team for higher wages giving bonuses we wouldn't have been able to as quickly
09:38decide that we wanted to give back up daycare that we wanted to ensure that over 65 people with
09:44underlying conditions pregnant women were able to take leave we wouldn't be able to make sure that we
09:48have other right resources for people to survive in this if our culture wasn't based well as a filter for
09:54decision making then we would have been in a place where half of what we've been able to do wouldn't
09:58be possible because we'd be arguing about what we believe in what's most important in this moment
10:02which isn't productive for those that are impacted by it that's a little bit of life advice as well
10:09too have it have it in place essentially stay ready so you don't have to get ready don't try to you
10:13know i mean it's the crisis that's what i'm more dumb i love that or don't or don't and
10:20mm-hmm and don't be surprised when you are where you are because you didn't take that advice i love
10:26it and it kind of it kind of leads into our next question which you kind of addressed which was how
10:31was the organization how's the organizational culture that's already been implemented at target
10:35helped to sustain you guys through this phase of covet 19. um you talked about some of the things that
10:40you guys were able to put in place for uh your organization for your employees also for consumers uh was
10:46there anything else that you wanted to expand on with that or were there some additional things
10:50that um you guys have done that is has helped sustain and is kind of helping you to continue
10:55sustaining uh during this pandemic two points i would just add to what i said previously the first
11:01of those is even though we we have had a culture that has continued to evolve with our business strategy
11:07the crisis moment pressure tested how strong our cultural values are how anchored they are and what we
11:14found out in this first phase is there's a lot of stuff that we've been saying we believe that just
11:20started to happen in a way that was really really com like confident building in terms of this is what
11:25we believe efficiency and decision making putting our team and our guests first making sure our team is
11:32just as safe as we want our guests to feel when we are looking to serve them and so those are the
11:38kinds of things that as we went through this we saw decision making get given away appropriately those that
11:44did not need to be in decisions needed to get out of the way we needed to trust the subject matter
11:48experts to guide us we focused on our core business which is about serving our guests we fought to stay
11:54open so that we were accessible for the needs that people would have here and all of those things came
12:00through the filter of our purpose of helping our families discover the joy of everyday life a set of
12:05values tied to inclusivity and other things and our desire to continue to give people a shopping experience
12:12it is easy but also makes them feel welcome that rewards them and inspires them and even in a
12:18crisis we're still able to deliver on that because it's in our cultural dna and so all the decisions
12:25that we made 10 millions going out to communities and different organizations to help with relief
12:29were decisions that were made really fast because nobody was arguing about what we believe
12:33and everybody was using the same framework to make their decisions and if you disagree consult the
12:38framework don't don't confront the person no that's great advice as well um and so unfortunately you
12:48know we're in the middle of phase one essentially of the covid 19 pandemic now and um we're seeing that
12:55there will likely or could possibly be a phase two um and i think if nothing else a lot of business
13:02owners are learning you know kind of learning what not to do or what they maybe would do different
13:07should something like this god forbid come around again or i mean even in a in a less uh drastic
13:13version so can you speak to some of the things that small business owners can do to kind of get
13:18ready and get better prepared for what could be phase two of this covid 19 uh pandemic yeah i mean i would
13:26i would give just a couple of things that apply no matter what size your business is the first one is
13:31and i've heard a lot of other speakers say it today if you are assuming that we come out on the other
13:36side of this crisis and go back to who we were before this crisis that's a that's a limited mindset
13:43this isn't just about what the crisis will create this is about the new ways of working the new way
13:49of business operating that is about a reset not a restart right that is about reimagining what the
13:55future is going to look like so do you have a business that has capacity for agility are you running
14:00a business that's so overflowing from a team resources financial resources that you don't even have the
14:06capacity to think about how to pivot and serve what might be the current needs do you understand the
14:11difference in the sentiment of the consumer that you serve so they might have been thinking one thing
14:17prior to this this particular crisis they probably won't be thinking the same way about that afterwards
14:23there'll be everything happening as we come out of this from shopping behavior to grief and mourning to
14:28ptsd and if you start to market to that audience as if they were before you'll look tone deaf
14:33versus re reframing who your business is through the lens of who's going to be on the other side of
14:39this are you tracking where the money's going did you try to do some selling when the stimulus checks
14:43came out if you didn't try to do some selling when the stimulus checks came out then you missed an
14:49opportunity are you tracking how those kinds of things are happening and strategically getting yourself
14:54involved in those moments at this kind of iterative rate as we're managing within this crisis
14:59and then the last piece that i will say that would be for me of highest importance for small businesses
15:05you have to diversify your business model if your business model is dependent on one really large
15:10consumer group or one large vendor partner target or other things where they're just such a heavy
15:15percent of how you're delivering your business you are vulnerable because that means your entire
15:21business is dependent upon if they exist and they got to make decisions align with their purpose
15:25so how are you diversifying the way in which you are doing your business so that when one business
15:31partnering with you can't do what they're supposed to do you're not crippled but you got to make
15:36capacity for that kind of agility you got to make capacity for sitting staying socially aware of
15:41what's happening minute to minute moment to moment right and then you have to be able to ask your
15:46consumer what do they need now not assuming what they needed yesterday is what they need today and then
15:51deliver deliver people can be at home ship it if you can't ship it i'm not sure how you're going to
15:56survive on the long term yeah now we'll have quite a few i think uh small business owners or people who
16:04are just now getting started um as entrepreneurs who are tuning in today um i would assume and so i feel
16:10like i would be remiss if i didn't ask you you know you're you kind of have a two-part and a massive
16:16uh role that you play at target on one side your chief diversity culture and inclusion officer and
16:23then you're also vp of human resources so when you talk about things like diversifying your business
16:28for young entrepreneurs who are just starting out um what advice would you have to kind of take those
16:34type of steps in in this type of climate um where that may not have been something that they thought
16:41about or again if they're approaching phase two and they realize that they didn't do it in phase
16:46one and now they want to be prepared for phase two so what i guess what what tips could you give just
16:51based on your experience um in your role at target yeah there's a couple of pieces that i would share
16:58the first of them are we all know why um entrepreneurship is a fantastic opportunity for everybody
17:06but if you're in a place of crisis or after the crisis you can accidentally end up competing with
17:11businesses that look just like yours with the same partners and so and i one of the speakers earlier
17:16today said this where are the creative opportunities for collaboration so that for example if you're
17:22going to be coming to target to say hey target i would love to do some things with you i've got this
17:25product that may serve your needs in the midst of this crisis and we're looking at you but this other
17:31black business that looks just like you is asking us the same thing we're only going to pick one
17:35instead if you know you have like size you have similar partners that are black entrepreneurs
17:43that deliver a product that collectively the two of you can do well what would it look like to approach
17:47target together so that you're kind of getting the best of both versus one getting and one not getting
17:54and going back to what i said about purpose and values align with partners that align to your values
18:01because then in crisis you'll probably stay aligned if you did it for the money and you know good and
18:06well your alignment to that partner was only for the money then you're going to see how strong that
18:10partnership is when you are in a moment like this and they're nowhere to be found and go silent on you
18:15the second piece i would just say is continue to think about how you create capacity for agility
18:22make room for creativity make room to make your your entrepreneurship summit virtual right make room to be
18:29able to talk to people differently about how you can serve them and keep the most important question
18:33in mind which is instead of telling people what you want them to buy ask them what they need to survive
18:39and provide what you can i hope you guys are taking notes because carolyn is dropping gems here today
18:48and um you know thank you so much um for all of this uh i think one more thing that i do want to touch on
18:55as i mentioned in the beginning we have our new voices and target accelerators pitch competition
19:00coming up um it's so exciting we also partnered with you guys i know for our entrepreneur summit
19:06back in december at atlanta and you guys were a part of that um and so i want to hear from you i
19:11guess on on a personal note what excites you most about you know getting to be a part of helping to
19:17bring this to life and being able to see you know these women of color entrepreneurs kind of bring their
19:23business um front and center pitch it and um you know use that use their platform to to take their
19:29i guess their business idea to the next level um what are you what are you most excited to see with
19:34the pitch competition that's coming today here's what i'm excited to see with the fact that a pitch
19:39competition for women of color exists like let's actually just talk about that in and of itself right
19:44and and here's what i would say and those that know me really well have heard me talk about this a lot
19:48part of what the transatlantic slave trade did to us is it rewrote history and made it sound like
19:57history started when that journey that landed all over the world started and what happened is we
20:05ended up forgetting that we were royalty kings and queens dominating before that moment we forgot to tell
20:12people we've stopped telling people who we were before the disruption of the transatlantic slave trade
20:18and we have operated that interrupted for a really long time and i'm not blaming us i'm just telling
20:23the truth of what the psychology is so my personal passion is black no none of us need pity none of us
20:31need help all we need is a reminder that we were great anyway an intentional discussion around what
20:39disrupted that so that we can go back and find it and manifest the greatness that's already ours to have
20:45and so when i look at something like the pitch competition i go that's what i'm talking about
20:50because you already were good and now you got some money go take over the world right and and
20:57and what starts to happen as we see more of that is now the five-year-old little girl in kindergarten
21:03is looking at melissa at lip bar and and be at honeypot right and going oh my god i could be a business owner
21:13and if you don't have the amount of respect for what generational curse disruption that does like
21:20move give your chair to somebody else because we are going to disrupt the generational curse of the
21:26lie that we started when we were enslaved we were a whole lot of stuff before that that was a moment we
21:33still have that in us people like what we're doing here at essence is intended to refuel you and help
21:39you function uninterrupted so we can take over the world and like you might think i'm crazy but i'll
21:44see you when you get there right and at the end of the day our whole role is to help each other and so
21:49i would close with take notes do it better yep yep yep and i think one of the things that i love about
21:57the competition too is that you are kind of enlightened and and kind of informed about the fact that there's
22:05not one type of like every black every woman of color or black woman entrepreneur is not just a
22:10beauty entrepreneur or not just a clothing designer or not just you know there's we have black women
22:17entrepreneurs in manufacturing and software and vetting in the medical field like there's so many
22:21different routes that you could take really any route that you want to take is the biggest takeaway
22:27um for me and so um thank you for for sharing that and um thank you for joining us today of course
22:34uh before we wrap i did want to quickly ask you to let everybody know where they can find you on social
22:40and then also if there's anything that you have coming up anything that target has going
22:44on that people should know about and get support let us know um so at wonga woman my last name
22:52and the word woman uh twitter ig linkedin or linkedin it's caroline wonga but everywhere else
22:58is at wonga woman um you know here i appreciate the question about what i have going on i'm gonna
23:05decline to answer it but i'm gonna tell you two things go shop at target because we have team members
23:11that are continuing to serve and that doesn't mean you can't shop in other places but we are open so
23:17that you can continue to survive in the midst of this and then number two stop ignoring your
23:24greatness go get the purpose you were born to deliver in this world believe you're fully equipped
23:29to do it black folks can help themselves be successful and we can start to disrupt the
23:34generational lie that we are nothing more than slaves who will never be nothing versus the royalty we
23:41were born to be and we need to step back into do those things and i will be happy
23:47i lied i have another question can we talk to you for like another hour like is that because we need
23:52i mean this y'all black all the best that's you i'm gonna start eating in a minute look i'm gonna
23:57eat some sign pass kids if y'all don't keep me here you see what i'm saying you can't have me hangry
24:04thank you so much caroline um and you know thank you for all the work that you guys are doing at target
24:10like i said i mean that when i said i go in target and i see another um black owned brand on the shelf
24:16a new one just about every time i go in target i discover new ones in different parts so thank you
24:20guys for the work you're doing thank you for the work that you specifically are doing um you know
24:25representation is so important and to see you kind of killing it in this um top position at target is
24:32very inspiring and um i think that it's gonna you know mean a lot for a lot of the folks who are
24:38watching a lot of entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs so thank you so much um for joining
24:43us today and for all of you guys who are tuned in once again um please be sure to tune in for our
24:50pitch competition today it's the 100 000 new voices and target accelerators pitch competition
24:57um hope you guys come back for that and also just stick around um we have a few more panels in store
25:02that you guys really are not going to want to miss um and so we will see you soon
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